The Phantom Menace...1st thoughts

I was hoping to hold off with the review of The Phantom Menace before I updated the log. I wish I could, but there are a few things kind of niggling at me and a few things that aren't. I have tried my best not to compare the book to the film as much as possible, but it's not possible.

I am not a writer, by any stretch of the imagination. However, I appreciate adapting a script into a book in not easy. You have the script, a couple of design pictures and a list the actors involved. More often than not they are working off a script that does not resemble the film in any shape or form.

I like how this novelisation started. In the film, this is given over to a couple of lines of dialogue. It is all to do with the pod race set prior to the events of the book/film. It all relates to the race in which Selbulba the Dug cheats and causes damage to Anakin's pod racer. It goes some way towards explaining the confrontation later on in the plot. I enjoyed it because it shines a light on Anakin we don't see in the movie. The inner monologue helps to show a little, though not a lot, of depth to Anakin's character. He comes across as slightly mature. That may have something to do with his uncanny insights into the future and ability to pilot a pod racer that only aliens of a certain anatomical bent are able to do. We also get to see the aftermath when Watto rips strips off him for losing...again. Again we see something in more detail. His relationship with his owner (remember, at this point, he is a slave) and his mother. He resents being a slave and longs to be free. Shmi, his mother, is desperate to stop him racing and does her best to get Anakin to tell Watto he wants to stop racing. A thing he loves to do and knows that Watto will make him do anyway as his master. We are also introduced to his friends and have a side scene with an old spacer who tells them all about his adventures flying for the Republic.

We then move on to what we know as the opening of the film and our introduction to Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. To be honest, I am not going to far into this as it plays out exactly as it does in the film. The description of the characters is basic.

That is my next point...characterisation is very basic. I was not convinced of the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. We have been lead to believe the Master/Apprentice relationship is so close they are like brothers. There is nothing at this point in the book to even make that believable. They come across as two miss-matched partner on a mission together.

So, let us deal with the elephant, or should I say the Gungan, in the room. JAR JAR BINKS! I honestly feel for Ahmed Best. Recently he has stated he had contemplated suicide due to the backlash over how bad the character is. It is NOT his fault. Jar Jar was badly and George Lucas is not an actor's director. He is a visionary and can set out a plot, but his direction skills and he can't write convincing dialogue. This was in the script Brooks worked off and it was on screen too. Jar Jar was supposed to appeal a younger crowd, but I don't think he did. Kids are more sophisticated and want depth to a character. Jar Jar had none of these attributes. The disjointed English worked for Yoda, as it was profound and wise, Jar Jar's dialogue was supposed to be funny. It isn't it's just fucking annoying. Really fucking annoying, especially when we find out all Gungan's speak the same.

Well, it is time for bed...we'll see how this pans out another day.

G'night all.